The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s mask recommendations are based largely on research involving medical grade masks or N95 respirator masks, but those kinds of masks are very different from cloth masks.
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In a 2015 BMJ Open clinical trial, researchers found that health care workers who wore cloth masks over the course of four weeks were 13 times more likely to fall ill with respiratory infections compared with workers who wore N95 medical masks.
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4) Research suggests that the coronavirus usually spreads via large droplets expelled out of a person’s mouth or nose, which are pulled down by gravity within a radius of six feet. Hence the six-foot rule.
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5) To get in through the shield’s openings, the virus would need to linger around in the air in smaller particles known as aerosols and eventually meander around the shield’s sides. “But, the patterns of spread of COVID-19 suggest that aerosol is unusual,” tells David Fisman, M.D., an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Toronto.
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Moreover, they noted a simulation study of influenza virus found face shields reduced viral exposure by 96% when worn within 18 inches of a cough. And unlike medical masks, face shields do not have to be removed to communicate with others, they said.
Face shields have proven so effective, leading hospitals like UI Health Care are expanding their use to all employees, not just those with patient care contact, to help reduce the risk of asymptomatic spread as well as to protect their team members from COVID-19. |
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